It’s been less than a year since the music world was rocked by the sudden suicide death of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, and his bandmates are still picking up the pieces in his wake. While the whole remaining group was able to organize a tribute concert at the Hollywood Bowl full of friends and past collaborators, the group’s other leader, Mike Shinoda, has also been working on solo material. He dropped a number of new songs already and has scheduled select tour dates, and now, a full album is set for release.
Titled Post Traumatic (which follows the Post Traumatic EP from earlier this year), this new release is Shinoda’s first full-fledged solo album of his career. The collection will span a whopping 16 songs, including the three songs already released on the EP earlier this year. The entirety of the album was written in the wake of his friend and bandmate’s death, with Shinoda using the process as a way to process his grief.
“It’s a journey out of grief and darkness, not into grief and darkness,” Shinoda said in a statement. “If people have been through something similar, I hope they feel less alone. If they haven’t been through this, I hope they feel grateful.”
Post Traumatic will be out on June 15 via Warner Bros. Check out a pair of songs from the collection, “Crossing A Line” above and “Nothing Makes Sense Anymore” below. Shinoda today also released a lengthy personal essay on Vulture, going in depth about life after Chester and saying that he doesn’t know what is going to happen to Linkin Park in the future.
